Idiot Psalms: New Poems

by Scott Cairns

A new collection from one of our favorite poets. Fourteen “Idiot Psalms,” surrounded by dozens of other poems, make this his most challenging collection yet.

“Idiot Psalm 1”
O God Belovéd if obliquely so,
 dimly apprehended in the midst
 of this, the fraught obscuring fog
 of my insufficiently capacious ken,
 Ostensible Lover of our kind—while
 apparently aloof—allow
 that I might glimpse once more
 Your shadow in the land, avail
 for me, a second time, the sense
 of dire Presence in the pulsing
  hollow near the heart.
Once more, O Lord, from Your Enormity incline
 your Face to shine upon Your servant, shy
 of immolation, if You will.

Genres: Poetry

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2014

Reviews

[J.A.A. Purves · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you read this little book of poems, two things happen.

First, you find yourself caught up with Cairns in a striving and reaching, a sort of grasping for something more - a deeper meaning, “a glistening, a quality, a presence of light” that seems, with the help of these poems, to just be almost ... there. The enthusiasm in his poetry for trying to understand the deeper meanings of things, of words, and of feeling is infectious. He makes words mean more. He makes ideas go farther than you would think they could go. And then he tells you with his poetry that this is just the beginning. For example:

“And if the tribal dialect has yet to be
sufficiently restored,

and if the pique and pallor of the public
discourse yet continues

to obscure and to efface without the merest
tremor of chagrin, one

might nonetheless resolve to hold the line within,
whenever possible ...”

Second, the entire book of Psalms in Scripture itself will be, even if only a little, changed for you. There is something about Cairns modernized new psalms (along with the instructions “accompanied by Jew’s harp,” “accompanied by baying hounds,” “whispered mid the Philistines, beneath the breath,” etc.) that seems to open up what psalms are really meant for. You’ll understand, just a little better, why and what psalms CAN mean.

I closed this book feeling humbled and just a little ashamed that I spend so much time doing and reading and thinking things that have so little to do with what matters.

“... How long has glib presumption kept us both
unschooled and pleased with our elaborate
unschooling? ...”

I don’t quite see how anyone could read this little book without suddenly looking wide eyed around them and also suddenly savoring every syllable and rhythm of spoken language.

Thank you, Mr. Cairns.

[Danielle Routh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the poems are just a tad too oblique for me (as another reviewer commented, there is sometimes a "better hint of potential than an example of it"), but when Cairns is good, he's really good. Favorites in chronological order:

Articulation
To What Might This Be Compared?
Mystagogia
Speculation along the Way
Ex Oriente Lux
Draw Near
Annunciation
Idiot Psalm 14

"Suddenly, with little warning, I become / for the moment more fully awake."

[Joshua Novalis]

Just re-read this in 2019, roughly 4 years after I first encountered the collection. Idiot Psalms still remains one of my favorite collections of poetry. Scott Cairns speaks directly to that inner longing within me, seeking to apprehend the divine mystery amidst and within worldly joys and woes. I expect to grow old alongside this book.

Some of my favorites:

Another Road Home
Idiot Psalm 3
Articulation
Two Trees
Speculation Along the Way
Heavenly City (Ouranoupoli)
Ex Oriente Lux
When I Say I Ache for You

[Jamie Dougherty · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Considering naming my band The Fragile Surround. Some amazing stuff, but starts to get a little repetitive by the end.
Favorites, chronologically:
Threnody
Irreducible is what I'm after
A Word
And Why Theology?
Idiot Psalm 3
The Fragile Surround
Idiot Psalm 5
And Yet Another Page and Yet
Articulation
Idiot Psalm 6
Mystagogia
Speculation along the Way
Slow Boat to Byzantium
Eremite
Idiot Psalm 13
Erotikos Logos
Idiot Psalm 14

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this little book of Christian poetry at the gift shop of the Queen of Angels Monastery of the Benedictine Sisters of Mount Angel in Saint Benedict, Oregon. The sisters don't have all that much shelf space in their bookstore, so they don't offer junk. Scott Cairns earned his B.A. from Western Washington University in 1977, an M.A. from Hollins University in 1979, an M.F.A. from Bowling Green State University in 1981, and a PhD from the University of Utah in 1990. He has taught at Kansas State University, Westminster College, the University of North Texas, and Old Dominion University. At the time of this writing, he is Professor of English and Creative Writing at the University of Missouri but is also the director of Seattle Pacific University's low-residency MFA program in creative writing. It is his two connections to the State of Washington which make his stuff so good. This book of poetry contains a variety of poems and specifically fourteen Psalms of Isaac, also known as the Idiot Psalms. Not all of them are great; some are just good. The first is probably the best and illustrates the genre. He addresses God as "beloved" but with great difficulty because of the divine propensity to obscure and disguise both the holy identity and the holy presence. It is difficult to love a deity so hard to pin down, he complains. He laments that, when one feels the need for a very present god the most, God seems least present. He remembers times when God felt very near and wishes the there was some way to entice, induce and inveigle the Almighty to become more evident on demand. His prayers remind me, in many way, of those of Tevye in "Fiddler on the Roof." Cairns writes Christian poetry, but you can't get much more Jewish than this. He even suggests its reading be accompanied by Jew's Harp. This guy is not only deep and real, he is funny.

[Emily Herron · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my poetry professors said that good poetry tends to speak to your intuition before your intellect, and that is so true of Cairns’s poetry. There were times I found myself with tears in my eyes and overwhelmed by the beauty and cadence of his words, yet could not explain to you what the poem was even about. This book was excellent, and I am eager to read it again more slowly and intricately in the future, but I am glad I read it as a whole and just soaked it in first. Highly recommend.

[Jacob Villa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like Cairns a good amount and he did not disappoint here. Though nothing breathtaking, he has a humble meditative approach to the human struggle after true insight that I find quite refreshing.

"The world remains a puzzle,
no matter how many weeks one stands
apart from it, no matter how one tries
to see its troubled surfaces, or hopes
to dip beneath them for a glimpse of what it is
that makes this all appear to tremble so."
- Heavenly City (Ouranoúpoli)

[Andy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collection of religious poetry; I enjoyed most but didn’t really love any. Strangely, I can’t remember where I heard about this author...I would read more by him but wish I knew how this ended up on my radar!

[Samuel Sadler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection is a brilliant study in bringing the gravity and universality of Christian Theology into the life of the individual. A powerful testament to poetry's grasp upon the transcendent and immanent.

[Renee · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed Scott's book far more than I thought I would upon starting out. I suspect our similar interests in the ecstatic and earnest spirituality will have me return to the book to pore over the poems I haven't quite cracked (hence the 3-star review).

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Granted I'm extremely generous in rating, but even with that...a wonderful book of poetry, especially for an idiot soul such as myself. (I have the book - paper, not the e-book.)

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished this just as we’re headed to Easter. Great timing. : )

[Dayna Smith · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful collection of beautiful poetry. Modern poetry that isn't intimidating.

[Mark Peters · Rating 4 out of 5]

These are words to live with.

. . .
yammering; still, the promise of each word abides
within its endless, inarticulate expanse,
thank God. . . .

[Joanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 I liked the ones actually called Idiot Psalms best and will certainly read more by this poet.

[Maria]

DNF. Enjoyed the poems titled: Idiot Psalm. The rest are stones to my juvenile teeth.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

Marvelous in every way.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection was frankly a little over my head. Some pieces were relatable and insightful, but others lost me.

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This slow pilgrim reclines on an amber-lit and comfortably cushioned desk chair altogether anguished, disgruntled, grumpy, humbled, perhaps, insufferable. These idiot psalms suggest to this dear and idiotic psalm reader a heightened sense of agency if not urgency to slow way down in the early late hours of our reading habits and a particularly scrupulous attention paid choice word by choice word.

[Grete · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cairns' best collection to date, for my money. Nevertheless, I suspect it will prove less accessible to readers unfamiliar with, at very least, his spiritual memoir or perhaps one of his poetry volumes from the early 2000s. Having that bit of context clarifies, for instance, why the idiot psalms are attributed to "Isaak" and where several of the poems are set. (Saint Isaak of Syria is his name saint; Cairns has visited Mount Athos in Greece a number of times.)

[Ted · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am only an occasional reader of poetry, but I do appreciate Cairn's poetry, much of it is related to themes in the Orthodox Church. Several very good poems in this collection, though this would not be my favorite of his books. His Idiot Psalms are a clever retelling of psalmody in a modern mode.

[Allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can hear Scott's voice in these poems, perhaps because I've heard them read aloud several times. But then there is also the delicate infusion of orthodoxy and negation, subtle wit, and love of the body.

[Ctazelaar · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are a few truly captivating poems in this collection. Somnambulant, When I Say I Ache for You, and Idiot Psalm 14 are my favorites.

[David Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cairn's work is difficult to access. It reads like a personal diary, beautiful in form, but a better hint of potential than an example of it.

[James · Rating 3 out of 5]

Scott Cairns is a very good poet, whom I really enjoy. For whatever reason, this collection remains opaque to me. Perhaps I am not Orthodox enough.